In Astoria, Queens, a Youth Movement, With Souvlaki

Slide Show|11 Photos

Living in Ditmars, Queens

Living in Ditmars, Queens

CreditUli Seit for The New York Times

It can take a while for some people to get acquainted with the quieter, lower-slung section of Astoria, Queens, called Ditmars by its residents and sometimes referred to as Ditmars-Steinway by real estate agents. “I think a lot of people who don’t know Astoria that well say they want to be near Broadway until they discover the Ditmars section,” said Bianca Colasuonno, an agent with the brokerage Realty Executives Today there.

The neighborhood, with about 47,500 residents, is bounded by Grand Central Parkway on the south, the East River on the west and north, and La Guardia Airport on the east. Those who venture there find a more tranquil area, in contrast to Broadway’s bustle, where four-story buildings are a rarity and parking is more abundant. Its spine is Ditmars Boulevard, a strip lined with houses and shops. The section east of Hazen Street stretching to La Guardia Airport is almost entirely residential and is often referred to as Upper Ditmars or Astoria Heights.

While residents don’t use the Steinway name to refer to the neighborhood, the piano manufacturer Steinway & Sons is in the Ditmars area and has a long history there.

Video

Block by Block | Astoria-Ditmars

The Ditmars section of Astoria is a cultural melting pot with a spacious take on New York living.

By Eileen Mignoni, Nacho Corbella and Andrew Blackwell on Publish Date February 19, 2015.
Photo by Richard Perry/The New York Times.
Watch in Times Video »

According to census figures, the Ditmars area is about two-thirds Caucasian, almost 20 percent Hispanic and 10 percent Asian. Many South Americans have been moving into the neighborhood, residents say. But perhaps the biggest change in this longtime stronghold of the Greek immigrant community has been the number of young people moving into the area in the last 10 years, shifting the population toward two large groups: 25- to 34-year-olds and people over 80.

While young singles are primarily renting in multifamily homes, those buying residences are young families with children, particularly in the area zoned for Public School 122 Mamie Fay, brokers said.

“We literally bought this house because of the school district,” said Kimberly Lancial, who lived just south of the Grand Central Parkway in Astoria with her husband and young son until they bought their current home in Ditmars eight years ago; she would not reveal what they paid but said the house is now worth 35 percent more. Ms. Lancial said her son, now in middle school, is equally pleased with I.S. 141 the Steinway, also in Ditmars.

Photo

23-11 DITMARS BOULEVARD A five-bedroom two-and-a-half-bath two-family brick home, listed at $1.299 million. (718) 909-3169Credit
Uli Seit for The New York Times

Her three-story rowhouse with a small yard and garden, where she rents the top floor to young professionals, is a few blocks from Astoria Park, and the neighborhood is full of couples with children.

“My son walks to school,” Ms. Lancial said. “He goes to the 122 playground. He goes to the park. He goes to the pizzeria with his friends.”

Mr. Frascati said he was pleased with the changes in the Ditmars area in the last couple of years. New cafes, bars, gyms and boutiques have opened along Ditmars Boulevard and 23rd Avenue, with some businesses opening on 24th Avenue.

Most houses in Ditmars are two- and three-story brick and frame multifamilies. There are also single-family homes, particularly in Astoria Heights. There are a few four-story apartment buildings, and one five-story co-op, but that’s about it for taller buildings, said Vasilis Kokoris, an agent with Realty Executives Today who lives in the area.

“I always refer to Ditmars as the ‘Whitestone of Astoria,’ ” he said, referring to the waterfront neighborhood just north of bustling Flushing, Queens. “It’s quieter, and you have all the conveniences of Astoria, but it’s a lot more open space, very green.”

Ms. Lancial said one thing that bothered some in Ditmars was the noise of the neighborhood’s power plants and the Amtrak trains. “It’s just your typical urban environment, and if you don’t like it, you don’t live here,” she said. The numerous power plants have also contributed to reports of poor air quality in Queens and the nickname “Asthma Alley” for Ditmars, though the closure in 2010 of one of the dirtiest, the Charles Poletti Power Project, may have helped.

Ditmars has some brick rowhouses on 41st Street and 20th Avenue that are the remains of a company village that William Steinway built in the 1870s for his workers. “We recently sold a two-family for about $899,000,” Ms. Colasuonno said.

Photo

23-35 35TH STREET A two-family house with a total of three bedrooms and two baths, listed at $899,000. (646) 772-8282Credit
Uli Seit for The New York Times

Many residents become landlords. Mr. Frascati said he bought his two-family home, with a third-floor one-bedroom apartment that needed work, almost two years ago for $675,000. He spent $50,000 on renovations and now rents out the apartment for $1,700 a month.

Two-family homes in the Ditmars area now go for $900,000 to $1 million, brokers said. “I got a great deal,” said Mr. Frascati, who is in the printing business and saw the ad for his house in the Queens Gazette literally the moment it came off the presses.

What You’ll Pay

An 1858 mansion at the top of 41st Street that was once the summer home of the Steinway family sold this spring for $2.6 million to Astoria investors. They have not made their plans for the landmark-desginated house public.

Other home prices in Ditmars are more modest, though they have shot up in the last 18 months, brokers said. A single-family home runs from $700,000 to $775,000; a two-family from $900,000 to $1.1 million; and a three-family from $1.2 to $1.3 million, said Charles Sciberras, an agent with Realty Executives Today who has worked in Ditmars since the 1970s.

Photo

19-19 24TH AVENUE #L102 A one-bedroom co-op with 18-foot ceilings and full-time doorman, listed at $391,000. (718) 350-6438Credit
Uli Seit for The New York Times

Rentals are $1,600 to $1,800 a month for a one-bedroom, $2,000 to $2,500 for a two-bedroom and $3,000 for a three-bedroom, Mr. Sciberras said. Ditmars has seen less condominium development than south Astoria, though there have been some six- and eight-unit projects, brokers said. Condos tend to run about $700 to $775 a square foot, Mr. Sciberras said.

Public School 122 is the neighborhood’s pride and scored an A on its most recent progress report. There are also several parochial and private alternatives in the Ditmars area, including Greek and Catholic schools. The Astoria Lutheran School serves children from age 3 through Grade 7, while St. John’s Preparatory School serves Grades 9 through 12.

The Commute

The Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard stop of the N and Q subway is the end of the line, ensuring commuters into Midtown a seat for the roughly 25-minute ride. Local buses include the 69 along Ditmars Boulevard, the 101 along Steinway Street, and the 100 out to Rikers Island. The M60, a Select Bus Service from Manhattan using dedicated lanes and requiring payment before boarding, runs along Astoria Boulevard out to La Guardia Airport. The History

The Astoria Heights section of Ditmars is home to what has been called the oldest remaining dwelling in the country still used as a residence, the Lent-Riker-Smith Homestead, built around 1655 by Abraham Riker. The Ditmars area was settled by Dutch, German and later Irish immigrants, with waves of Italian immigrants from the 1920s through the 1940s, said George Delis, a founder of the Greater Astoria Historical Society. In the 1960s and 1970s, Greek immigrants moved to the area, he said.